Need to know what volumes were on Bin Ladin's bookshelf? Curious if his reading tastes were close to yours? Ever consider if what you read makes you who you are, or is who you are dictated by what you read?
Until today when The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) released the heretofore classified compilation of Bin Ladin's legacy library all we book lovers (and terrorist haters) could do was speculate. Now we know.
Of over 200 items, including his most recently declassified personal correspondence, translated into English from Arabic, there are listed titles of 39 English language books. Bin Ladin's letters make fascinating reading (advice to cohorts about how to take care of bothersome fillings, tender remembrances to his wife and father should he be killed, etc.). But messages to his "brothers in Iraq specifically and the Islamic Nation in general" referencing the conduct of jihad make it clear that he regarded Bush's war as one against Islam. There are lists of lessons learned after the "fall of the Islamic Emirate," which I took to mean the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and letters from captured and assassinated famous al-Qaeda leaders when they lived. But most interesting are the books and articles in English that he had in his possession when killed.
Here is the complete tabulation:
The 2030 Spike by Colin Mason
A Brief Guide to Understanding Islam by I. A. Ibrahim
America’s Strategic Blunders by Willard Matthias
America’s “War on Terrorism” by Michel Chossudovsky
Al-Qaeda’s Online Media Strategies: From Abu Reuter to Irhabi 007 by Hanna Rogan
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast
The Best Enemy Money Can Buy by Anthony Sutton
Black Box Voting, Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century by Bev Harris
Bloodlines of the Illuminati by Fritz Springmeier
Bounding the Global War on Terror by Jeffrey Record
Checking Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions by Henry Sokolski and Patrick Clawson
Christianity and Islam in Spain 756-1031 A.D. by C. R. Haines
Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources, and Strategies by Cheryl Benard
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
Conspirators’ Hierarchy: The Committee of 300 by John Coleman
Crossing the Rubicon by Michael Ruppert
Fortifying Pakistan: The Role of U.S. Internal Security Assistance (only the book’s introduction) by C. Christine Fair and Peter Chalk
Guerilla Air Defense: Antiaircraft Weapons and Techniques for Guerilla Forces by James Crabtree
Handbook of International Law by Anthony Aust
Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky
Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer
In Pursuit of Allah’s Pleasure by Asim Abdul Maajid, Esaam-ud-Deen and Dr. Naahah Ibrahim
International Relations Theory and the Asia-Pacific by John Ikenberry and Michael Mastandano
Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II by William Blum
Military Intelligence Blunders by John Hughes-Wilson
Project MKULTRA, the CIA’s program of research in behavioral modification. Joint hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, first session, August 3, 1977. United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Intelligence.
Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies by Noam Chomsky
New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 by David Ray Griffin
New Political Religions, or Analysis of Modern Terrorism by Barry Cooper
Obama’s Wars by Bob Woodward
Oxford History of Modern War by Charles Townsend
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower by William Blum
The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly Hall (1928)
Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins
The Taking of America 1-2-3 by Richard Sprague
Unfinished Business, U.S. Overseas Military Presence in the 21st Century by Michael O’Hanlon
The U.S. and Vietnam 1787-1941 by Robert Hopkins Miller
“Website Claims Steve Jackson Games Foretold 9/11,” article posted on ICV2.com (this file contained only a single saved web page)
If nothing else, he was a student of the politics and impact of his
jihad from both the Islamic point of view and the views of various Western political writers. He gravitated to publications that were critical of the military and intelligence institutions of the US. And he had a liking for conspiracy theories. It's entirely speculation, but his personality seemed to prefer writings that confirmed what he believed or wanted to have affirmed regarding the corruption, decline, and falsity within America and its form of government.
His library of English books argues that he was not a stupid man nor a self-aggrandizing person ambitious that political power be concentrated in his hands, i.e. a Fidel Castro. But his letters and lists reveal a mind that is obsessed with Allah and a conviction that he is more than just a soldier of Islam. I think he sees himself as an agent of God, and is self-assured that he represents good fighting the continual evil that is realized in Israel and the USA, and remains a continuation of the Crusades. That he could have rationally debated and defended his point of view in a "Western" style intellectual argument would not have been possible for him, in spite of the hints his library gives that he wanted to know -- from a certain skewed perspective -- his enemy.
But isn't it interesting that his copy of In Pursuit of Allah's Pleasure, a booklet originally published in Arabic that is a sort of hybrid of Emily Post's guidebook on etiquette and Sun-tsu's The Art of War filtered through Shariah law, is the English translation? I find that odd and wonder why is that? I would have liked to ask him. I also would have liked to ask him what he read in bed before falling asleep, too. But now I'll never know.
For those who want to sample from or read the entire collection of material released by DNI, please click the link at the top of the diary.